For some, mission creep is a key concern. The current campaign has already expanded from sending 300 military advisors into Iraq to missile strikes and supplying Kurdish forces with weapons to combat the Islamic State (formerly known as ISIS or ISIL).

And the president is reportedly considering sending even more advisors.

Breaking: POTUS considering more US military advisors to #Iraq, up to 75 to add to 300 already authorized, reports @barbarastarrcnn

Below, we've outlined five American objectives and the likelihood of their success.

Save the Yazidis and defend Americans in Erbil

Displaced Iraqis from the Yazidi community cross the Iraq-Syria border at Feeshkhabour bridge over the Tigris River on Aug. 10.

Image: Khalid Mohammed/Associated Press

The stated goal of American strikes was to protect U.S. personnel in the city of Erbil and to provide an escape route for the minority Yazidis who had fled advancing militants from the Islamic State.

Those goals appear largely accomplished. Though the situation of the Yazidis remains desperately dire — the refugees are stranded on a forbidden mountain range with little food or water — for now, at least, the radical fighters can't reach them. Also, U.S. strikes appear to have largely destroyed the militants' artillery positions so they no longer threaten Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan.

Assist the Kurdish military against the radicals

Image: Khalid Mohammed/Associated Press

Kurdish forces, known as the pesh merga, were at first beaten back when they took on the militants in northern Iraq. With the U.S. now arming them, and helping them out with air strikes, they now stand a better chance against the radicals.

Help make Iraq's government more inclusive

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, center, attends the first session of parliament in the heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad, Iraq on July 1.

Image: Karim Kadim/Associated Press

The Shiite-dominated government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has long been accused of discriminating against Sunnis in the north and west, sowing discontent and paving the way for radical Sunnis of the Islamic State to find allies as they took over large swaths of territory.

A more inclusive Iraqi government, the thinking goes, might siphon away local support and thus undermine the Islamic State.

There have also been reports that President Obama has sought regime change in Iraq for some time. Though it's questionable what the U.S. administration can do to shape the government.

This week, after American pressure, the Iraqi president nominated a new prime minister to take the place of Maliki. The candidate, Haider al-Abidi, is also a long-time Shiite politician but is seen to have broader support. Maliki will remain caretaker prime minister for 30 days while Abadi tries to form a new government, though there are signs that Maliki might not go quietly.

"There’s very little we can do to influence how that plays out,” Ben Connable, a counterinsurgency expert at RAND Corporation, told Mashable. “Right now, that’s completely up to the Iraqis."

Drive the Islamic State Out of Iraq

Islamic State fighters parade in the northern city of Mosul, Iraq on June 25.

Image: AP Photo/Associated Press

The American administration has no interest in seeing the Islamic State advance further since the group threatens both the region and —potentially — the U.S. itself.

Sam Brannen, a former official in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, said the American administration may decide on more airstrikes, and a broader campaign in conjunction with Iraqi forces, if Maliki goes as planned. As it is, they don't want to be seen working with someone who doesn't have popular support — especially among the Sunnis.

A new ally in Baghdad, however, would allow the U.S. to coordinate air assaults with Iraqi ground forces and possibly defeat the Islamic State in Iraq, said Brannen, who now works at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"So far, administration officials have said that they are not planning to conduct such an air campaign — but they should," Richard Fontaine, a former foreign policy advisor to Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.), told Mashable. The Islamic State "is not only a threat to Yazidis and Erbil, but also to the integrity of Iraq and ultimately to the security of Americans," said Fontaine, who is now president of the Center for a New American Security.

Protect the Homeland

An American coming from Iraq lands on the flight deck of the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush on Sunday, Aug. 10

Image: Hasan Jamali/Associated Press

The Islamic State has actively recruited fighters from overseas and many of the militants are originally from other parts of the Middle East, Europe and even the U.S. Brannen warned that those fighters could take the battle home.

"There will probably now have to be some sort of a strategy that will ask how you stop [the Islamic State] from taking retaliatory action," Brannen said. “It’s a homeland security issue as well."

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